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RAINWATER

HARVESTING
With environmental issues such as climate change, environmental degradation, and resource depletion,
saving natural resources and reducing environmental impacts have become our overriding concern.
In this situation, water is one of the top global challenges we are facing at the moment.
Water is becoming an increasingly precious natural resource. So, various pertinent measures are being
taken and developed to address water availability problems globally. Among them, rainwater harvesting

R E S E A R C H E D & D E S I G N E D B Y
1 0 . N O V . 2 0 0 9
CONDENSATION

EVAPORATION PRECIPITATION

97%
WATER CYCLE
THE CONTINUOUS MOVEMENT OF WATER ON, ABOVE AND BELOW
3%
SEA WATER

FRESH WATER
SNOW & ICE 68.5%
THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH. THERE IS NO BEGINNING OR END UNDERGROUND WATER 30.1%
LAKES & STREAMS 1.2%
WATER VAPOR 0.2%

WATER SUPPLY FACILITY MAINS WATER

OCEANS, UNDERGROUND, LAEKS AND RIVERS


STORAGE
* WATER RECYCLING
Reuse of treated used water

SEWAGE
- GREYWATER
coming from bathtubs,
showers, sinks, and
SEWAGE washing machines
TREATMENT - BLACKWATER
coming from toilets
97%
SEA WATER
3%
FRESH WATER
SNOW & ICE 68.5%
UNDERGROUND WATER 30.1%
LAKES & STREAMS 1.2%
WATER VAPOR 0.2%
Water is an essential source of our life
Whilst we appear to have an abundant water supply 97%
of the 1.4 billion cubic kilometres of water on Earth is
sea-water, 2.7% of the remaining 3% is permanently
bound up in ice at the poles. This leaves only 0.3% of
the Earth’s water resources as usable fresh water.
This available water moves in a permanent cycle through
WATER SUPPLY FACILITY MAINS WATER evaporation and rainfall, which is ‘the water cycle’.
There are also problems with the quality of drinking water
as increasing water pollution caused by nitrates, phos-
phates, pesticides and other chemical substances is
making purification increasingly difficult and expensive.
Scarcity of usable fresh water, water contamination, and
environemental impact of supplying fresh water are our
* WATER RECYCLING
Reuse of treated used water challenges in relation to water. Rainwater harvesting could
SEWAGE
- GREYWATER be employed to help alleviate these challenges.
coming from bathtubs,
showers, sinks, and
washing machines
SEWAGE - BLACKWATER *reference_homepage of Freewater UK Ltd, which is one of UK’s leading
TREATMENT coming from toilets companies in the field of rainwater and greywater system technology
CATCH!
ENERGY
WATER CONSUMPTION
FALLING
33% TOILET FLUSHING
12% LAUNDRY
8% GARDEN, CAR
FROM
*47% MAINS WATER
PERSONAL WASHING(25%)
DRINKING/FOOD PREPARATION(10%)
WASHING UP(12%)
HEAVEN
Rainharvesting contributes to maximizing
efficiency in the use of limited water resource AVERAGE ANNUAL
PRECIPITATION
The avergae Britisih household uses around 150 litres of OF ENGLAND
water a day, but as little 50% of it needs to be of potable
quality, for the preparation of food and drinks at the mm

kitchen sink. For many uses we just don’t need high


quality drinking water. For toilet flushing, washing ma- POTENTIAL
chines, for cleaning and garden watering, we can safely RAINWATER
YIELD PER YEAR
use filtered rainwater. This means that more than 50% TO ROOF SIZE 100m2
of mains water can be substituted by rainwater.
The concept of rainwater harvesting is quite simple;
collect rainwater form your roof, store it on site, filter
and re-use in place of mains water. By installing a rain-
water harvesting system, you can reduce the amount %
fo water you consume from the mains water supply, OF A HOUSEHOLD
which in turn reduces the environmental impact of MAINS WATER
supplying fresh water due to the fact that it is clean, CONSUMPTION
C A N B E 33% TOILET FLUSHING *47% MAINS WATER
free, requires no transportation. Rainwater is a valuable REPLACED 12% LAUNDRY PERSONAL WASHING(25%)
DRINKING/FOOD PREPARATION(10%)
resource that plays an essential role in sustainable 8% GARDEN, CAR WASHING UP(12%)

development.

Poster that promotes rainwater harvesting, making people aware of the


fact that rainwater can replace 50% of mains water. The shape of inverted
cup is employed to describe buildings uncapable of containing water.
PROPOSED PLANS FOR POSTER
OF THE PROMOTION OF RAINWATER HARVESTING
These proposed plans emphasize the point that one third of all water

does not require high quality potable water. In fact, it is obvious waste
and unreasonable that mains water, costing carbon emissions and
environmental impacts in the process of cleaning and transportation,
is used for that use.

T O O
MUCH
“Our water deserves
more than excrement”
TOILET DOES NOT After going through over 20 steps of
NEED HIGH QUALITY meticulous purification treatment,
DRINKING WATER undertaking more than 250 quaility tests,

RAINWATER
and running through 150 miles of aqueducts
and pipework, 60% of London’s fresh water
CAN SUBSTITUTE supply only ends up in lavatories.
T O O
MUCH
PROPOSED PLAN_1

TOILET DOES NOT


NEED HIGH QUALITY
DRINKING WATER

RAINWATER
CAN SUBSTITUTE
PROPOSED PLAN_2
PROPOSED PLAN_3

“Our water deserves


more than excrement”
After going through over 20 steps of
meticulous purification treatment,
undertaking more than 250 quaility tests,
and running through 150 miles of aqueducts
and pipework, 60% of London’s fresh water
supply only ends up in lavatories.
PROPOSALS

Basically, the amount of collecting-possible rainwater is determined by the size of the roof or
the area exposed to rain, other than the precipitation and the capability of storage tank.
In practice, most domestic roof areas are too small to satisfy all this potential demand. So, it is important
to expand the area exposed to rain or to add projections in order to collect rainwater as much as possible.
THE BASIC FORM
OF BUILDINGS

TRANSFORMATION
Various transformed shapes to
collect rainwater at maximum
by expanded area exposed to rain
PROPOSALS

* Hypothetical example
Spreaded slope
temporarily
during rainning

Tilted towards building SIDE VIEW FRONT VIEW


to make rainwater
flow into the gutter 5 20 5

10

2
(unit:m)
TOP VIEW

original area_20X10=200
8 expanded area_(30X10)+(2X8)=316

Annual Rainwater Yield


Annual precipitation value ℓ/㎡X Projected roof area㎡X Roof type collection factor = Rainwater yield ℓ/year

Clay tiles, fired, glazed : 0.9


Roof area including any projections e.g. 750 X 316 X 0.9 = 213,300 ℓ
Slate, concrete, clay files : 0.8
(independent of roof type/slope) *average annual precipitaion of England_750mm
Flat roof with gravel : 0.6

213,300 ℓ_the amount for 32 people to use in toilet


*annual demand for toilet flushing per person_11,800 ℓ
PROPOSALS

CASE STUDY_INVENTIVE RAINWATER HARVESTING SYSTEMS

A Drop of Water Eco factor Raindrops


designed to utilize rainwater for irrigating Rainwater harvesting system made from This system allows people to attach standard
the garden and saving on the drinking water recycled materials, designed by fusing plastic plastic bottles to an existing gutter system
that is used for irrigation purposes, consisting of bags together using the heat of an iron, that has been installed to take the water
rainwater butt and integrated watering can. which makes a durable tarp-like material. from the roof to the drain.

Rainchain Rainpod Watree


This ancient Japanese links uses rain chains It collects water in a large tank and, standing looks like an umbrella turned upside down,
in lieu of traditional down spouts and have taller than a man, has the height and reach placed in playgrounds and parks just as a
them divert rainwater into your rain barrel, to cover a large area around it, sprinkling the rain shelter. While protecting people from rain,
or underground water tank. area using nothing but gravity. the system collects all the precious drops.
PROPOSALS

Collecting rainwater using an umbrella


This umbrella can be used for the typical purpose of
protecting people from rain as well as for collecting rainwater.

* Application_1
A way of connencting the umbrella with a plastic container.
This inverted umbrella allows rain falling upon it to be collected.
This water flows down through holes on the hollow rod It is needed to be longer for
and then is stored in the plastic container. tightening the umbrella with the tank

holes on the hollow rod to let


rainwater flow into a storage tank. * Application_2
This plays a role of preventing umbrellas
It is a way that collects rainwater using several umbrellas
from being blown off by wind.
in a wide area like garden. In general, rain is accompanied by
Collected water is distributed through it
wind. To avoid being blown off by wind, umbrellas are needed
to storage points around the garden.
to be held down by something good weighted.

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